Hana no ato - Another Excellent Samurai Saga based on a short story by the late Shuhei Fujisawa (The Twilight Samurai, Love and Honor, et al.)

Japan, late Edo period. Ito, daughter of a clan official, has been trained in swordsmanship since a child by her father. One day, by chance encounter, she's approached by low-ranking Samurai Magoshiro, who hopes that she will give him the pleasure of a match. Ito agrees, and they have a private match with bamboo swords in the courtyard of her home.

The exhilarating match sparks feelings between the two, but Ito is already betrothed to another man and decides to put Magoshiro out of her mind and wait for her fiancé to return from Edo. The extremely ambitious Magoshiro rises swiftly through the Samurai ranks, however, one day Ito by chance learns that the clan leader may be plotting against Magoshiro.

When her worst fears are realized and Magoshiro is forced to commit seppuku due to the plotting of this cowardly noble she asks the Samurai Katagiri Saisuke, whom her father wants her to marry, to help her seek justice and exact revenge.